It’s a slippery baseball slope for the likes of Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire and other star players linked to PEDs, and on Wednesday the Baseball Writers Association of America voters sent yet another strong message to those seeking the Hall of Fame with a shadowy past:

And stay out.

Bonds and Clemens trended downward in the balloting. Bonds, who was at 36.2 percent of the vote his first year on the ballot, dropped to 34.7 on Wednesday. Clemens was at 37.6 his first year, and the Rocket propelled backwards this year, garnering only 35.4 percent of the 571 votes cast. Candidates need 75 percent of the vote to make it into the Hall.

That was nothing to how steep some others dropped. Mark McGwire, in his eighth year on the ballot, plummeted to 11 percent after registering 16.9 percent last year. Candidates must muster 5 percent of the vote to stay on the ballot. Sammy Sosa is clinging to Hall of Fame ballot life with just 7.2 percent of the vote after getting 12.5 percent last year.

Rafael Palmeiro was not as fortunate. In his fourth year on the ballot, Palmeiro received 4.4 percent, after getting 8.8 percent in 2013. He is off the ballot.

The strong rookie class of 2014 factors into some of this shrinkage — with Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas sailing into the Hall on Wednesday. But the bottom line is voters are looking at more than the bottom line of statistics when it comes to those tainted by PEDs. Essentially, voters are saying, taint, no thanks.

Bonds is baseball’s all-time home run leader with 762. He is a 14-time All-Star and a seven-time NL MVP. Clemens won seven Cy Youngs. McGwire hit 583 home runs. Those numbers could be made of dust, considering the voting record of the BBWAA.

Thomas made it clear where he stands on steroid users with a number of comments Wednesday.

“As for what they did, I don’t think any of us will ever really know,” he said, “but I can just tell you, what I did was real and that’s why I’ve got this smile on my face right now because the writers, they definitely got it right.”

Real and right is a pretty good combination. If this trend continues, some of the biggest names in baseball history will not be allowed into Cooperstown without first buying a ticket. For now, there continues to be a steep price to pay for those connected to PEDs. And those already in the Hall of Fame have made it clear they want no part of those tainted players. The voters have sent the same strong message.